A Case Study of " Entitled Hiker" Vs " Irresponsible business owner ".

[Kookork]

In one of my long distance thru hikes , I was empty of any food so I decided to walk to a hamlet to resupply. This hamlet is the only resupply point in a 100 mile stretch of the trail but the trail is not a particularly thru hiker friendly trail. in 50 years of existance there has been not more than 100 cases of conventional thru hiker of it(The Bruce Trail).

Anyway, the hamlet had just one convenient store that worked as a liquor store and gas station also. I went there early morning and bought around 50 dollars of stuff and then asked the clerk to let me charge my cell phone in her shop. She said no. I explained the situation that her store is the only resupply point in that stretch and a charged cellphone can be potentially a life saver in emergencies.

Her answer did not change. A big NO. I offered money to charge my cellphone and she refused the offer. The only other business around was a restaurant which was closed until midday. I had no choice. Waited in the area in front of the convenient store for 3 hours and when the restaurant owner came asked her to charge my cell phone.

She let me sit on one of her garden benches and brought me cold water and hot coffee free of charge. I told her about the situation I had with the convenient store clerk and she said I was not the only one who was not happy with the customer service.

She told me last year there was a fire accident in the store and she and many of the locals( mostly passerby truck drivers who were a regular customer of Gas station and liquor store )stopped to help to control the fire. She said she noticed that nobody was willing to help to control the fire seriously and the clerk and her husband noticed it. After controlling the fire she said that majority of the helpers were talking about how bad they have been treated before and how a subtle feeling of revenge was stopping them to risk their lives for this particular store.

Here is the situation: Was she legally obligated to let me charge my cellphone ? Hell no.
Was she morally responsible to help me out? I think so.

Is this a case of entitled hiker ? Is this a case of indifferent business owner? Is this a case of a jerk business owner? You decide.

If I write a guidebook about hiking this trail, am I morally allowed to mention that this particular business owner is not particularly friendly with hikers need? You decide.

[Old Hiker]

Legally obligated: no.
Morally responsible: no.

If the store or restaurant had NOT been there, what would your plans have been about your cell phone possibly dying?

Just because someone else has paid for the utilities (regardless of amount) does NOT mean someone else can come along and help themselves. Doesn't matter if you offered to pay - "No" means "No". Have the good grace to accept it.

[Teacher & Snacktime]

Check out some of the Kent Laundromat posts....then decide.

[T.S.Kobzol]

LOL I can't stop laughing. Morally obligated to help you charge your phone. LOL

If you think that your stupid electronic gadget is necessary for your safety then you'd better get one of those chargers that runs on AA batteries and buy your spare power at the store. Or buy one or two extra cell phone batteries and leave them charged in a ziploc bag only for emergencies.




[
QUOTE=Kookork;1501828]In one of my long distance thru hikes , I was empty of any food so I decided to walk to a hamlet to resupply. This hamlet is the only resupply point in a 100 mile stretch of the trail but the trail is not a particularly thru hiker friendly trail. in 50 years of existance there has been not more than 100 cases of conventional thru hiker of it(The Bruce Trail).

Anyway, the hamlet had just one convenient store that worked as a liquor store and gas station also. I went there early morning and bought around 50 dollars of stuff and then asked the clerk to let me charge my cell phone in her shop. She said no. I explained the situation that her store is the only resupply point in that stretch and a charged cellphone can be potentially a life saver in emergencies.

Her answer did not change. A big NO. I offered money to charge my cellphone and she refused the offer. The only other business around was a restaurant which was closed until midday. I had no choice. Waited in the area in front of the convenient store for 3 hours and when the restaurant owner came asked her to charge my cell phone.

She let me sit on one of her garden benches and brought me cold water and hot coffee free of charge. I told her about the situation I had with the convenient store clerk and she said I was not the only one who was not happy with the customer service.

She told me last year there was a fire accident in the store and she and many of the locals( mostly passerby truck drivers who were a regular customer of Gas station and liquor store )stopped to help to control the fire. She said she noticed that nobody was willing to help to control the fire seriously and the clerk and her husband noticed it. After controlling the fire she said that majority of the helpers were talking about how bad they have been treated before and how a subtle feeling of revenge was stopping them to risk their lives for this particular store.

Here is the situation: Was she legally obligated to let me charge my cellphone ? Hell no.
Was she morally responsible to help me out? I think so.

Is this a case of entitled hiker ? Is this a case of indifferent business owner? Is this a case of a jerk business owner? You decide.

If I write a guidebook about hiking this trail, am I morally allowed to mention that this particular business owner is not particularly friendly with hikers need? You decide.[/QUOTE]

[T.S.Kobzol]

Here

this is what you need. Get some pride and stop annoying people who don't want to deal with you.

[TD55]

Except for the comments about the fire, which is hearsay, your critique seems fair. It's not like you are trashing the place or calling for a boycott. You are just reporting your experiance in a polite way for the sole purpose of warning other hikers of a business that may not be hiker friendly. You did mention that you spent $5O at the store. It's not as though you were looking for an absolute freebee. Seems a little courtesy to a customer would have been in order.

[yaduck9]

I am not trying to be sarcastic but..........when did a cell phone become a necessity? A necessity that involves a moral decision? In America, business transactions, as long as they don't violate certain laws ( illegal drugs, racism, violence, etc. ) are usually negotiated by the two parties. Either one is free to say "no" ( I was taught never to say "no", it merely leads to arguments. Its much easier to just set a very high price ).

[hikerboy57]

was it a business owner or just a clerk? if it was just a clerk and the owner wasnt around, the clerk was doing the correct thing.from your story, it didnt seem she was rude in any way, just an insistent "no".
there is no moral obligation to recharge someones cell phone.

[yaduck9]

[QUOTE=Kookork;1501828]
Anyway, the hamlet had just one convenient store that worked as a liquor store and gas station also. I went there early morning and bought around 50 dollars of stuff and then asked the clerk to let me charge my cell phone in her shop. She said no. I explained the situation that her store is the only resupply point in that stretch and a charged cellphone can be potentially a life saver in emergencies. After reading your post, again, I now see where your strategy fell apart. You needed to negotiate the charging of your cell phone before you transacted your 50 dollar purchase. You expected or assumed to have you phone charged after you paid 50 dollars for supplies ( I assume the same amount that anyone else would pay ; tourist, truck driver, town folk etc ) . Here is the rub, because you were a hiker, and you felt your cell phone is a necessity ( more so then a trucker? ) and it is your expectation that it should be charged. Negotiate first, like anyone else, leave your expectations at home.......

[Namtrag]

Moral obligation, maybe not...but be nice to your fellow man, certainly. Using 10 cents of electricity to charge a cell phone, let someone make a phone call on your office phone, let someone slide if they are 3 cents short at the register, are all examples of common decency. Especially for someone who just spent $50. I think this is part of the problem with our country these days. Senseless, rampant selfishness. Whatever happened to treating others as you wish to be treated?

[Jack Tarlin]

Carrying electronic devices, gadgets, and toys is entirely a personal matter and nobody is obligated, ever, to provide you with free electricity so you can enjoy these things. Is it nice when a business lets you do this? Sure it is. But are they OBLIGATED to do it? Absolutely not. Also, speaking from having witnessed it untold times, I'm sure that business owners, restauranteurs, etc. resent hikers taking for granted they can use any outlet they see for their own purposes. It's simple common courtesy to ask permission first, tho you'd be astounded how few people do. And I once tripped over a hiker's charge cord that he'd plugged into an outlet at a Hanover coffee shop. If I'd hurt myself, the owner of the cafe could absolutely have been held liable for allowing unsafe conditions to exist in his place tho in truth I'd have pounded the hiker before suing the cafe owner). In short, if someone decides to help you out with your electronics, cool, but ask first, and never take the help for granted. Oh, and lastly, believe it or not, hikers managed to get by for generations without these things. Anyone that can't endure two or three days in the woods without making a phone call or checking their E-Mail needs to go home.

[TD55]

Nothing wrong with reporting bad service to make other hikers aware of a problem or bad service if it's done in a responsible way. The OP made a report the proper way. Now go ahead and agrue, insult and act stupid over a few penneys worth of electricity or whether a cell phone is a necessity and whether a business has a obligation or duty to be decent. And thank God the Waterman types a few and far between in the hiking community. Rare and unwanted.

[JustaTouron]

IMHO: Believing that someone is morally obligated to allow you to charge your phone means you an entitled hiker. Posting about it on the internet means you are a very whinny entitled hiker.

[Coffee]

Everything is better in rural areas if the baseline expectation is that people will be as rude and thoughtless as in a major city. 95%+ of the time, the rudest person in a small town is more polite than the average person in a big city. Low expectations + typical natural helpfulness of small town folks = happy hiking.

[hikerboy57]

Everything is better in rural areas if the baseline expectation is that people will be as rude and thoughtless as in a major city. 95%+ of the time, the rudest person in a small town is more polite than the average person in a big city. Low expectations + typical natural helpfulness of small town folks = happy hiking.

funny, you would find most new yorkers just as ,if not more, helpful than anywhere else in the country.
so they would exceed your expectations.
for me, the concept of long distance hiking involves a sense of self sufficiency. and even though this is impossible in the pure sense, i dont expect help from anyone, barring a medical emergency.

[Tom Murphy]

Legally obligated: no.
Morally responsible: no.

If the store or restaurant had NOT been there, what would your plans have been about your cell phone possibly dying?

Just because someone else has paid for the utilities (regardless of amount) does NOT mean someone else can come along and help themselves. Doesn't matter if you offered to pay - "No" means "No". Have the good grace to accept it.

+1

well said and I completely agree

[Kookork]

[QUOTE=T.S.Kobzol;1501844]LOL I can't stop laughing. Morally obligated to help you charge your phone. LOL

If you think that your stupid electronic gadget is necessary for your safety then you'd better get one of those chargers that runs on AA batteries and buy your spare power at the store. Or buy one or two extra cell phone batteries and leave them charged in a ziploc bag only for emergencies.




First of all, I don't appreciate your "know it all" tone and LOL comment. I normally try to choose my words wisely. I did not say she was morally obligated ,I said she was morally responsible to help me out.

Secondly,. Not every trail is a well traveled and busy trail like the AT and that stupid gadget you mentioned can potentially save my life in stretches of the trail that one will not encounter another soul for days at a time. If you don't think so , you might one day find it out the hard way.
In anyway it seems it is not a bad idea you look at the mirror and have a genuine talk about your attitude with the guy that is staring at you in the mirror.

[hikerboy57]

[QUOTE=Kookork;1501889]

LOL I can't stop laughing. Morally obligated to help you charge your phone. LOL

If you think that your stupid electronic gadget is necessary for your safety then you'd better get one of those chargers that runs on AA batteries and buy your spare power at the store. Or buy one or two extra cell phone batteries and leave them charged in a ziploc bag only for emergencies.




First of all, I don't appreciate your "know it all" tone and LOL comment. I normally try to choose my words wisely. I did not say she was morally obligated ,I said she was morally responsible to help me out.

Secondly,. Not every trail is a well traveled and busy trail like the AT and that stupid gadget you mentioned can potentially save my life in stretches of the trail that one will not encounter another soul for days at a time. If you don't think so , you might one day find it out the hard way.
In anyway it seems it is not a bad idea you look at the mirror and have a genuine talk about your attitude with the guy that is staring at you in the mirror.

you'd better rely on other means than hoping you can find a place to recharge your cell phone if you need it that badly.back up batteries or a charger happens to be an excellent suggestion.
hey its whiteblaze, are you "entitled "to only responses you agree with?
cmon you know us better than that.
what does morally responsible mean anyway?

[Coffee]

funny, you would find most new yorkers just as ,if not more, helpful than anywhere else in the country.

DC is my main reference point. Full of entitled people for sure.

[hikerboy57]

DC is my main reference point. Full of entitled people for sure.

no argument there. i just feel nyers get a bad rap.